UK literary agency partners exclusively with Amazon to break authors into US

U.K. literary agency Curtis Brown (which operates independently from the literary agency of the same name in the U.S.) will publish over 200 titles exclusively through Amazon, in a program designed to break U.K. authors into the U.S. market.

Curtis Brown is running the new program with Amazon’s “White Glove” service (not to be confused with the company’s “white glove delivery” option for TVs and other high-priced goods). While Amazon hasn’t publicly promoted the service, it is aimed at literary agents representing well-known authors who control their own digital rights on backlist titles. Amazon gives the agents extra help in converting and uploading book files to the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) store; it will also convert print books to digital files for free. In some cases, Amazon also promotes the books through email blasts and page placements, in exchange for an exclusive of six to twelve months.

Curtis Brown CEO Jonny Geller announced the news at The Bookseller’s FutureBook conference in London Monday. “We are excited to work with Amazon on this initiative to reach new audiences for our authors,” he said in a statement, describing the program as “primarily geared toward breaking U.K. based authors in the U.S.”

The initiative, called “CB Creative Books,” will publish books through Kindle Direct Publishing and Amazon’s print-on-demand program CreateSpace. The authors participating — including Emily Barr, Colin Bateman, Jane Fallon, Rosie Goodwin, Sarra Manning, Adele Parks and Tony Parsons — are generally well-known in the U.K. but don’t have a big following in the U.S. “My U.S. fans have been continually calling for an e-book offering,” said Adele Parks, a bestselling U.K. women’s fiction author. Six of her books are for sale in the U.S. Kindle store through the new program, with new covers and priced at $7.99.